'Aid in Dying' Bill Sets Stage for Clash in California
A segment for KCET's award-winning TV show "SoCal Connected" is based on this story. Tune in Wednesday, March 11 at 8 p.m.
California has officially become the newest battleground state for aid in dying legislation -- laws like one in Oregon that allowed Brittany Maynard to end her life with prescription drugs, rather than letting terminal cancer take it.
On Wednesday, calling aid in dying a civil and human right, members of the legislature introduced SB 128, the End of Life Options Act.
As anticipated, the proposal mirrors Oregon's law. To be eligible, two separate physicians must determine that a patient has less than six months to live due to terminal illness; age or disability alone are not prerequisites. The bill would also mandate that patients are screened for depression or psychological or psychiatric disorders that could impair thinking. Patients would be required to administer the prescription themselves, and doctors or family members would be protected from civil or criminal penalties stemming from the patient's death.
"At the core of this proposed legislation is respecting the dignity of a patient who meets very strict criteria to have the authority to make this decision," Sen. Bill Monning (D-Carmel), told KCET. Monning jointly wrote the proposal with Lois Wolk (D-Davis).
The bill's proponents are bracing for a clash with groups like the California Medical Association, and Californians Against Assisted Suicide, which represents the Catholic Church.
Though the issue has appeared on a ballot once and in the state legislature four times, Wolk said that things would be different now. "Much has changed since the last time this was discussed in the California Legislature," she said, including legalization in other states.
But opponents say they don't see any reason why legislators should see this new bill as different from old efforts. There is "nothing substantively different in this legislation to what we've seen earlier," said Tim Rosales, spokesman for Californians Against Assisted Suicide.
"There are really no alleged safeguards that can ever protect those who are most vulnerable in society, particularly in a state as diverse as California," Rosales said. He added that a coalition of opponents to the bill would work to educate lawmakers and the public about what detractors call "assisted suicide."
"This is not the same as taking someone off life support," he said.
In an emotional press conference, the legislators were joined by Maynard's husband and mother, as well as Dr. Robert Olvera. Olvera, a physician from Santa Ana, lost his 25-year-old daughter, Emily Rose, to leukemia last April. Having the option of aid in dying, he said, would have spared his daughter "four months of agonizing pain and torture."
During his daughter's final four months, she underwent chemotherapy and other medical procedures that produced even more pain than the disease, he said.
"No one should have to like this," Olvera said. Instead of going peacefully under the hold of prescription drugs, he said, Emily Rose died of dehydration, starvation, and sedation. "Without this law, dying Californians in innumerable pain face a severe threat to the dignity of their lives as it comes to an end."
The bill will be assigned to committee soon and will need a simple majority on the Senate floor before it can go to the Assembly, where it would need 41 votes to find its way to the governor, Monning said.
